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There’s a saying in sports that the next game is the most important one. For the Detroit Red Wings, their next game will be acutely revealing.

Thirty games into the season, in the midst of a long home stand, the Wings are floundering. They aren't scoring, so they aren't winning. In their last game, they looked like they weren’t even trying for the first 14 minutes. Their captain called it embarrassing. They have one point and two goals to show for the last three games. Now comes a revelation game Thursday, when they host the Los Angeles Kings (7:30, FSD). If the Wings don’t play well start to finish, if they don’t execute, it will be indefensible.

“We know the clocks are ticking,” forward Tomas Tatar said after today's practice. “You can't let any more games slip away. We just have to calm down. We know how to play.

“Our fans deserve better.”

Forward Frans Nielsen, one of the most introspective voices in the room, admitted to frustration.

"We feel we are creating enough chances to score more goals," he said. "We’ve just talked enough about it now. Now it’s time to go out and do it. Just find a way.”

Tatar and Nielsen both brought up that almost every skater is squeezing his stick right now, that everybody is nervous. It’s why coach Jeff Blashill is reminding them not to allow frustration to fester.

“If you squeeze sticks, you can't play,” he said. “You don't have the same success. We have to relax, remember we are playing a game. We understand how important it is to everyone involved — ownership, fans, us — but in the end, we have to make sure we go out, we bear down, we have urgency, but we can't squeeze the sticks so much you can't play.”

Two months ago, the Wings had a six-game winning streak that included back-to-back victories over Nashville and San Jose. Now they can’t even beat Arizona, which has the second-worst record in the NHL. During the third period of the Coyotes game, a fan at Joe Louis Arena stopped yelling “Shoot the puck!” and comically switched to “Pass it!” because of how often the Wings pass the puck rather than drive it down low.

Fans also could yell “Pass it to Thomas Vanek,” because he has been the most consistently smart forward with the puck, knowing when to shoot and when to pass. It’s not the veterans, largely, who have been a problem — Vanek, Henrik Zetterberg, Nielsen, Mike Green, and Jimmy Howard, in spades — have done their jobs.

It’s the mid-20s group that is holding back the Wings. Gustav Nyquist had six shots on goal against the Coyotes, but he has finished just one chance his last 24 games. He is on pace for 11 goals. So is Tatar. Riley Sheahan had a glorious chance — only to shoot high. Thirty games in, he remains without a goal. Defenseman Danny DeKeyser would look outstanding as a No. 3 defenseman, but the Wings’ weak back end has him miscast in the role of a No. 1. Other than Green, the Wings are getting no offense from their defense.

There should be no delusion that the Wings entered this season as one of the better teams in the league, but they also aren't as bad as they play some nights. Some of that is on the coaching staff.

“Ultimately, we are responsible for the performance of this hockey team,” Blashill said. “We have to make sure we are as prepared as possible. One, making sure we provide the right structure so that we play on the same page as everybody. Two, through different avenues, we have to try to get the most out of players. Is that through inspiration, is that through accountability, meaning, at times, taking away ice time? There is a fine balance between accountability and confidence.”

In today's practice, Sheahan was between Nyquist and Tatar, a line that has clicked in years past. Blashill said the staff “went through and reviewed every one of Tatar’s goals from two years ago, just to see who he was playing with, where he was scoring from, what types of goals he was scoring.

“I went into the year, I was going to give them great opportunity to have success. They have had great opportunity. They haven’t had the success, in terms of output. The problem is if other guys want that ice time, then they have to demand it. And right now, nobody seems to be grabbing it.”

Encouragingly, the Wings can look back to Thanksgiving week for inspiration. They were sinking fast but fashioned themselves a life raft with a five-game point streak.

“We did it the last time,” Nielsen said. “We did a good job and got some wins, and now we have to do the same thing again. We’ve got to stop the bleeding right away and realize that we are in a lucky position that a lot of teams in our division are struggling, too. It’s not too late. But if we don’t start tomorrow, it is going to be too late.”